Sansing harvests buck of a lifetime

By Mike Giles / outdoors writer

February 09, 2007 12:27 am

— Eleven-year-old Lane Sansing has been deer hunting most of his life. In fact, the young hunter killed his first deer at the age of seven. Since that time he has been highly successful as he honed his woodsmanship skills while hunting with his father, Dal. This year they bought a game camera and set it up in the woods behind their house. While they had harvested quite a few deer from the area, they weren’t quite prepared for what they saw after the first few days that the camera was out.
The trail camera had captured a monster buck. The deer was coming out between 11 and 1 a.m. Lane was really charged up and excited when he saw the deer. He even called the deer “my deer”, he was so revved up and confident that he would get him. Dal, however, tried to temper Lane’s enthusiasm somewhat due to his own lifetime of hunting experience.
“Lane, you may never see that deer again,” advised the cautious dad. Dal knew that they only had 200 acres of land and therefore there was a good chance that someone else, even a neighbor, might get the monster buck. That didn’t deter Lane’s youthful exuberance and determination that the deer would be his.
Big Buck country

The Sansing’s plot of land is located near Macon, right on the edge of the famous Black Prairie. The prairie is well known for producing trophy bucks, but none had been harvested close to their home.
Back in 1998 Dal had planted the area in CRP pines. One area just wouldn’t grow pines so he made a food plot. All around the food plot was pine plantation, which served as a good bedding ground for the deer. Dal was willing to try for the big buck, but knew that it would be a rare feat for Lane to harvest the buck of a lifetime, after capturing him on film. The buck might not have even stayed in the area for that matter.
Dal and Lane decided to hunt the big bruiser’s area again a couple days before Christmas. Though they didn’t have a stand there, Sansing did construct a blind for concealment while they watched the food plot. As it turned out the blind was just the ticket.
During the afternoon several does appeared and started feeding on the green field. Before long a frisky spike joined the does. The spike chased the does back and forth around the field. Since they had somewhere to be that night the father and son discussed shooting the young buck. However, Dal advised Lane that he wouldn’t ever kill a big deer if he kept shooting the smaller ones.
Waiting longer

Lane relented and continued to watch the show. Since he had gotten his limit last year and had killed twenty something deer up until then, Lane decided to hold out on the chance that the monster might show up.
With daylight fading fast Dal spotted movement in the edge of the woods. Almost instantly the buck charged into the middle of the does scattering the herd. As the buck stopped in the middle of the field he was facing away from the hunters. When he turned broadside they realized that this was a trophy deer.
Lane slowly raised his .243 rifle, centered the crosshairs on the buck and squeezed the trigger. At the crack of the rifle shot the buck crumpled to the ground in a heap. The monster buck never knew what hit him and the celebration began for the proud father and young “Daniel Boone”!
The 205-pound buck sported 15 massive points and scored 156 2/8 points on the Buckmaster’s scoring system. This buck would provide the family with succulent venison, as well as a lifetime memory. Big rack, fine food, and a lifetime memory for father and son; it just doesn’t get any better than that!

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